Minecraft Snapshot 12w18a - New Features Coming

Posted in minecraft

Snapshot (12w18a) is going to be another big one this week, especially for Minecraft servers. If the ex bukkit team's clues are anything to go by we're going to get some new server admin settings, multiplayer improvements and some inadvertent extras!

If you're a Minecraft server admin then you're going to love snapshot 12w18a. If things turn out to be true, then you're going to see a new setting called recommended texture pack. As a server administrator (owner) you can decide which texture pack suits your server the best. When players connect to your server they'll see a message similar to:



This server recommends the use of a custom texture pack.

Would you like to download and install it automatically?

Players will have the option to either accept the recommendation or decline it. But this is a great way for server administrators to set the theme for their Minecraft server. So if you like a steampunk theme then simply upload the texture pack to a URL of your choosing (doesn't have to be on your server), change the texture-pack setting in server.properties and job done!

Other features expected in snapshot 12w18a

Footsteps

In multiplayer (SMP) you'll be able to hear other players footsteps if they're close enough. This was accidently added while the team fixed other bugs.

Missing sounds added to multiplayer

Sometimes you used to experience missing sounds when playing online. The new snapshot will fix this so players hear all sounds including skeletons shooting, buttons and exp.

Hardcore mode in multiplayer

Single player has had a hardcore mode for quite some time now (since beta 1.9) so it's only fair that multiplayer should get it too. If you remember, hardcore mode means that once you die that's it! Game over! The world is deleted and you need to start again from scratch.

We expect that if you die on a multiplayer server, the game will be over for all players using that world. Tread carefully, because it's all about team work in hardcore mode now.

Speed improvements for multiplayer

Chunk loading is faster so games will start up faster than before.

Secrets

As usual, there are a handful of secret features included in 12w18a. No clues what they are yet but the development team have said it's something we've wanted for quite some time!